After impatiently waiting what has felt like ages, the time to go hands-on with Playground’s Fable has finally come. I sat in on a demo during Summer Game Fest this past June, which explored the world of Bowerstone, its inhabitants and how you can affect the world. This time I was able to play about 30 minutes of Fable, fully focused on combat, and I have to say, it was everything I wanted but better.
We were able to play through the same section of the game twice, first with an earlier build and second with a later build with stronger spells and weapons. It offered us a great feel for how Fable‘s combat will play at different stages of the game, not just when you’re underpowered or specced out.
You’ll have to forgive me, as I don’t know the name of each spell yet, but first up we were offered a two-handed hammer, bow and four spells: a lightning bolt, the ability to turn someone into a chicken, a dash behind that caused damage and a fireball. Second, we kept the same hammer, a crossbow, a lift, dancing blades, and lightning again.
The sentiment in both playthroughs was the same–Playground has nailed the combat in Fable. Swapping from ranged to melee to magic is an integral part of Fable’s DNA, and the feeling of moving between them has to be natural and smooth. Weaving between a heavy hammer swing to a dash behind an enemy into another swing and a lightning strike to a different enemy off in the distance was met with such fluidity that I didn’t want to stop playing.
“Playground has nailed the combat in Fable.”
There is a lock-on target, but the game is smart enough to know where to take you next after you defeat each opponent. You never need to pause and look around the battlefield to figure out what you’re doing, unless you’ve cleared all the enemies in your immediate vicinity. Combat pulls you from enemy to enemy as long as you keep going without the need to reorient. This can occasionally lead to awkward camera angles where your Hero is too close to the screen, but because it helps you aim, it will point you toward what is hitting you off-camera, so you’re never in danger because of it.
What I’ve always loved about Fable is the flow while fighting, but mostly because I love weaving spells in between melee hits. Since I have been back from gamescom, I started playing Fable Anniversary, and after playing Playground’s Fable, I am very aware of how janky early Fable’s combat can feel and how easy it is to hit the wrong target. Playground has made combat smart and intuitive, something I didn’t know I was missing at the time.
What I was always used to was using magic as a protector in the original games, usually when I was overwhelmed—and just for fun. I am a sucker for a good force push, and in Playground’s Fable, the ability to lift several enemies into the air and leave them suspended for a time was very exciting. Pressing the button a second time pulls them down to the ground, causing more damage and leaving them open to finishers.
I spoke with the Associate Directors, Craig Littler and Will Kennedy, after my playthrough and was really curious what their go-to combos were for spells:
Will Kennedy: I personally really like combining the lift spell and the lightning spell, so lift is great because it’s a really great spell for weaving into others because all the spells are great for weaving, but my personal favourite, I like lifting enemies up into the air; I then go and peck off a couple of other enemies while they’re incapacitated.
And I come back, and I actually hit those enemies with the lightning while they’re in the air. And it causes them all to explode, and scatter and fly out of the sky, and then they land, and then any of the ones that are left are exposed to ground kills, so it feels like it’ll be a sort of 1234 punch that works really great. I never get tired of it.
Craig Littler: I play the chicken build constantly. Because I combine push with befowl with fireball, so when enemies are around me, there’s the push spell to knock them back. Then I usually upgrade the befowl spell, which I charge up, and then that allows me to turn multiple enemies into chickens, and then just as the battlefield is crazy because all the chickens are running around—which I can then kick—I use fireball, because then that turns the chickens into roasted chickens on the ground, which is just for me like a perfect favorite moment.
Before you ask, I did inquire, and no, you cannot pick up and eat the roasted chickens. Obviously, this was something fun to talk about with people who know a bit more about this version of Fable, but the reason I wanted to share it was to highlight how incredibly different these two playstyles are, and that they are both completely acceptable in Fable.
“This time I was able to play about 30 minutes of Fable, fully focused on combat, and I have to say, it was everything I wanted but better.”
A part of what I loved about the previous titles was that there was never a “right” way to play. I never had to worry about mastering a specific kind of combat—I’m looking at you, Blood of Dawnwalker—to succeed in the game. I could play how I wanted, and that was totally acceptable. Not to mention, Littler’s playstyle is completely bonkers, and that just shows that the goofy, silly personality from the original games is still on display in this version.
Something else that touches on just how diverse Fable is going to be is actually the graphical settings. We played Fable on PC with controllers—the XBOX anniversary controllers, actually (and thank God they didn’t make me use a keyboard and mouse). So right off the bat, we aren’t on console only. What I really wanted to mention was the quality, though—they only set us on medium settings.
I know, “real” gamers would be raging right now! But in all honesty, the game looked absolutely stunning. Wraiths and skeletons looked detailed with great shading. The fog as we slowly walked through Wraithmarsh was eerie and atmospheric. High settings or not, Fable already looks beautiful. I can’t wait to see more.
We are still five months away from Fable’s release, and the game is being previewed in fragments. Launching people into an open-world title with so many mechanics that include shaping the world around you can be a complicated process. Though I have only seen combat and “the living world” so far, I have no doubt that the spirit of the originals is ingrained in Playground’s Fable, and I truly believe that it will all come together to create something outstanding. Whether I eat my words come February, we will see, but for now, I am all in.
Fable releases on February 23, 2027, for XBOX Series X|S, including XBOX Game Pass, PC, and PlayStation 5.
